Login | February 22, 2025
Speeches and poetry from youth highlight event in detention
Published: February 21, 2025
AKRON––Self-expression is a form of self-awareness.
That was put on full display at a recent event in the Summit County Juvenile Court’s Detention Center.
Six youth in the detention center accepted the challenge to write material and recite it before a group of onlookers.
It was labeled as a competition between them, but that was secondary to what was really going on.
Some of the youth wrote their speeches individually, others collaborated.
But the result and, frankly, the desired outcome, was that they were able to stand before a group of people who were mostly unknown to them, and demonstrate how their work opened their minds, opened their hearts, and bared their souls.
The young men were not in unchartered territory, not entirely.
They were prepared for the moment by an activity in the detention center that was created by Re-entry Coordinator Kathy Hullum.
She felt the youth needed a recreational and educational outlet. So, she developed a book club, and it wasn’t long before every male youth in detention took part.
The club chose the topics and Hullum scoured resources to find an appropriate book for them to read.
During book club sessions, the book was discussed and open dialogue became an integral part of the experience.
The attendees decided that a name for the club was in order. They agreed on a suitable moniker: Mind Readers.
Hullum is always looking for methods to keep the “Mind Readers” engaged, so she proposed the speech competition on a voluntary basis, and she was pleased with the response.
On the day of the competition, members of court staff and invited guests gathered in a wing in the detention center.
After some opening remarks from Hullum, it began.
Due to space constraints, only excerpts from each poem or speech can be offered, but they do not diminish in the least the power, poignancy and passion of the words delivered by the contestants.
The first speaker recited a poem called “Knowledge”:
Knowledge is power, don’t reject or ignore that; and that’s one thing that I know is a fact,
The more you know, the better off you are, Wisdom and knowledge lets you to shoot for the stars.
Reading is vital to learning new things; It’s interesting the enlightenment books can bring.
The next presenter took to task the state of Ohio’s bindover policies where youth still in their teens can be bound over to the adult correctional system:
I believe I can be somebody. Do you believe I can be somebody? Because the State of Ohio doesn’t believe I can be anything.
He detailed the disparity of Black youth being bound over and how research has indicated that the brain doesn’t fully develop until the age of 25, and how that lack of critical thinking contributes to a youth making a serious mistake just one time, and the devastating consequences that result.
If you don’t believe in me, please believe in the research I have done. Pleased believe that everybody should be given a chance. I, and others like me, are counting on your belief.
Next, was a group of three youth who collaborated on a speech called, “Misunderstood.”
Each outlined the challenges of living in an environment void of opportunities that reach beyond their neighborhood; how joining a gang becomes an option when there are few others available.
We are more than our mistakes. We are complex individuals with hopes and dreams and fears. We want to share our experiences, share what it feels like to be judged without fully understanding. We fear there is no way out. Imagine what is like to not be able to feel safe in your own community. We are all young men who want the same things you want: love, safety, success, opportunity, and purpose. But many of us don’t have support to give us that. The truth be told, most of us want help and want peace in our neighborhood. We just don’t know how or who to ask.
The final presenter first read a few lines from the poem he read that inspired his speech.
It spoke of a rose that grew from the concrete, symbolizing that nothing is impossible to grow, even under the most difficult of circumstances.
He then delivered his work:
The concrete is not our last stop. Growing up in the inner-city, surrounded by poverty and violence, it can feel like we are trapped here, like the system has already decided our fate. Statistically, we are supposed to live in poverty, live in single-parent homes, and for many of us, incarcerated before we can attend our graduation. We started from the bottom, no doubt about it. We survived some of the toughest, most dangerous environments. But we are much more than statistics. I believe we were given the tools to learn, to see things forward, and opportunities to fortify our mind. We can be anything we aspire to be. I refuse to believe the concrete beneath my feet is the ceiling of my potential. I know the sky’s the limit, not the bottom side of the concrete.
At the conclusion of the event, Detention Superintendent Melissa Gerney addressed the contestants.
“I just want to thank all of you young men for all that you did,” she said. “You should feel very proud of yourselves. I also want to thank Ms. Hullum who has devoted countless hours with not just these young men, but to all of the youth in Detention. We appreciate you very much for all your time.”
While it might sound trite, it’s also true: everybody won in this competition.